According to the latest data
from the U.S. Census Bureau, an estimated 38.4 million Americans,
or about 14% of the total population of 276.5 million, were uninsured
in 2000.1 However, contrary to what may be commonly
assumed, the uninsured are not the same as the unemployed.

The data show that about three-fifths
of the uninsured, (59.3% or 22.8 million) are adults with jobs,
while approximately another one-fifth (21.9%, or 8.4 million)
are children. In fact, only less than about one-fifth of the
uninsured (7.2 million or 18.8%) are actually non-working adults.2

In addition, many uninsured
children and non-working adults are in families headed by a worker.
24.3 million uninsured individuals (or 63% of the uninsured)
are in families, where the family head works a full-time, full-year
job, and another 8.3 million are in families where the family
head works part of the year and/or part-time. Thus, about 85%
(32.6 million) of the uninsured are in families with some participation
in the workforce. Only, 15% (5.9 million) are in families where
the head-of-household did not work at all.3

Of the 22.8 million workers
without health insurance, 2.8 million (12.3%) are self-employed
and 1.2 million (5.3%) are employed by a federal, state or local
government agency. The remaining four-fifths are employed by
private, though principally smaller, businesses. 4.8 million,
(21%) work for businesses with less than 10 employees. Another
3.2 million (14%) work for firms with between 10 and 24 employees
and the same number work for companies with between 25 and 99
employees. Thus, three-fifths of uninsured workers (61.3% or
14 million) are either self-employed or work for businesses with
fewer than 100 employees.4

These data suggest that the
problem of uninsurance is related not so much to unemployment,
but rather to the difficulties that the self-employed and workers
in smaller businesses face in affording health insurance.

Footnotes:

1 Robert J. Mills, "Health Insurance
Coverage: 2000," Current Population Reports, U.S. Census
Bureau, September, 2001. A copy of the report can be obtained
at: http://www.census.gov/hhes/www/hlthin00.html

2 Paul Fronstin, "Sources of Health
Insurance and Characteristics of the Uninsured: Analysis of the
March 2001 Current Population Survey," Employee Benefit
Research Institute, Ttable 2, "Non-Elderly Americans With
Selected Sources of Health Insurance, by Age and Own Work Status,
and Work Status of Family Head, 2000". A paper or electronic
copy of this report may be purchased at: http://www.ebri.org.